Washboard



July 17, 1934. V D MI NE 1,966,512

WASHBOARD Filed Jan. 13, 1953 nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn u INVEN TOR.

' Gdyar $1 97713110 BY 6/1/44, 7 T WW4? 7 ATT RN Y.

Patented July 17, 1934 UNITED STA 1,966,512 WASHBOA RD Edgar l). Misner, Detroit, Mich, assignorto 'S'tl Materials Company, Detroit, Mich., a corpora;-

tion of Michigan Application January 13,, 1933-, Serial No. 651,534

' 1 Claim.

This invention relates to washing devices for clothes and the like, and more particularly concerns an improved washboard and novel means for 'afiixing thesame to a sink, wash basin other receptacle,

An important object of the invention is the provision of a smalhcompact and inexpensive washboard conveniently usable in a sink or wash basin, and provided with means whereby it may quickly and easily be firmly attached thereto, so that while in use it need not be held in order to prevent its undesired movement; and further, the provision of such a board which is nevertheless quickly and easily detachable as well.

A still further object is the provision of .attaching means for such a board so designed as to render it easily adaptable for useupon sinks and. wash basins of different dimensions, and which further enables quick attachment and de- .tachlnent of the board without the use of tools;

Other objects and advantages will be apparent 1 from the following description, wherein reference is made to the accompanying drawing illustrating a preferred embodiment of my invention and wherein similar reference numerals designate similar parts throughout the several views.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a vertical section of awash basin showing one of my improved washboards attached thereto, which is shown in a section taken substantially along the line l1 of Figure 2;

Figure 2 is a plan view of the washboard;

Figure 3 is an end view looking in the direction indicated by the line and arrows 3-3' of Fig- ,ure 1, and

Figure 4 is an enlarged detail section of the adjusting mechanism.

Referring now to the drawing, reference character designates generally the body of my improved washboard, which as best shown in Figures 1 and 2 may comprise a unitary stamped sheet metal member having transverse ribs, as 11, of the sort commonly provided upon washboards, or of any other desired configuration. The body is preferably somewhat dished, having, however, upstanding walls upon three sides only. The walls serve to prevent undesired splashing and to provide a trough-like contour so that water may only run down the board to escape at its "lower or front edge, (when the same is installed upon a Wash basin in the manner illustrated in Figure 1, for example). The side walls may decreasingly taper in height toward the front edge of the board, which is provided with no wall and preferably curved downwardly, as indicated at 12, to allow the escape of the water. A bead, as

13, ma be rolled u on and extend around the edges of the body.

Prefer-ably upon both front corners are arranged downwardly extending legs 14, which may be of metal and spot-welded or otherwise suitably secured to the bottom of the body portion 10, and a suction cup as 15, of soft rubber or the like, is carried by and at the bottomof each leg. Also secured upon the bottom of the body portion, near its rea'r'or upper edge, are one or more curved legs, as 17-48, adapted to so support the vacuum cups 1920 in opposed inwardly facing relation that the cups may be forced into holding engagement with the inner and outer surfaces of the upper portion of a sink or wash basin such as that designated 25 in Figure 1. Preferably at least one cup is provided for engagement with the inside and one the outside of the sink, as shown. The outside leg may at its top be rigidly secured to the bottom of the body 10 as by spotwelding, while the other leg, as 17, is adjustably secured thereto in such manner that the distance between the cups l920 may be varied by bodily sliding of the latter leg. The upper extremities of both legs may be provided with stifiening flanges,

as shown in Figures 1 and 3, and the channeled portion of inner leg 17 slidably fits over the similar portion of leg 18. As also shown in these views the web section of this channeled portion of leg 18 may be slotted, as at 21, while theother I slidable leg 17 may carry, as in a suitable aperture (undesignated) a bolt 22 extending through the aperture and slot, a nut, as 23, being screwed upon the bolt upon the other side of the slot. It will be seen that when the nut and bolt are tightened the inner leg is rigidly fixed in position, but

- that it may be slid to any other desired position within the range of adjustment and then refixed by first loosening the nut and bolt, then sliding the leg to the desired new position and subsequently retightening the nut and bolt, as will be readily apparent.

The manner in which the board is ordinarily used is clearly illustrated in Figure 1. The suction cups 19-20 are first pushed over the upper edges of the basin substantially to the position in which they are shown, by merely placing them upon opposite sides of the top of the-basin and pushing down upon the board, the distance between the cups being or" course so adjusted that they are urged together and against the inner and outer surfaces of the basin by the legs 17 and 18, which preferably have a certain amount of resiliency but not so much as to render the board unstable orwobbly when being used. The

lit

cups 15 carried by the lower legs 14 are then pushed into engagement with the bottom of the basin, all cups being sufficiently compressed to expel all or part of the air or Water therefrom, so that they are subsequently held in place by the outside pressure in the well known manner. Due to the softness of the cups the inclination of the bottom and walls and whatever variances of contouring of the surfaces of the basin may be present will not prevent the firm attachment of the vacuum cups and so the entire board in this manner.

When so installed the board is held in an inclined position as shown, and it will be seen that it can then. be used without the necessity of manually holding or Wedging it in place, and the trough-like contouring provided by the side Walls constitutes a simple but eifective manner of preventing undesired escape of water forced from the material by washing.

It will also be understood that the removal of the board is an extremely simple matter, since by merely sliding the rear edge of the board and so the cups 1920 upwardly the rear cups may be freed from engagement with the basin, while such tilting also disengages the lower cups 15.

While it will be apparent that the illustrated embodiment of my invention herein disclosed is well calculated to adequately fulfill the objects and advantages primarily stated, it is to be under stood that the invention is susceptible to variation, modification and change within the spirit and scope of the subjoined claim.

What I claim is:

For use with a conventional porcelain finish wash basin of the type having a horizontal surface and a vertical double walled edge whose cross section is an inverted U, a washboard comprising a substantially rectangular sheet metal plate having side flanges, legs projecting downwardly from the undersurface of the plate near the corners formed by the intersections of the front and side edges of the plate, in a direction towards the horizontal surface of the wash basin and being long enough to space the board from the basin at all times, resilient legs projecting downwardly from the undersurface of the plate near the center of the back edge of the plate, and formed to embrace the double walled edge of the washboard between them and to space the board from the edge of the basin at all times, each one of all of said legs having on its lower end a rubber suction cup, and having on its upper end a portion by means of which the leg may be secured to the undersurface of the plate with all portions thereof below the under surface of the plate, the rubber cups on the forward legs facing downwardly to engage the horizontal surface of the wash basin, and the rubber cups on the rear legs facing each other to engage the surfaces of the double walled edge of the basin.

EDGAR D. MISNER. 

